


Love in the Time of Quarantine

by gogglor



Category: Lore Olympus (Webcomic)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Quarantine, What if the Olympians had a Covid pandemic too, Zeus is an asshole, pandemic au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-24
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:29:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 11,498
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25479943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gogglor/pseuds/gogglor
Summary: Thanks to a new virus that can infect gods and a certain asshole brother, Hades and Persephone have to quarantine in the same house, but apart from each other. This will be fine.
Relationships: Hades/Persephone (Lore Olympus)
Comments: 78
Kudos: 320





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading my quarantine-fic! I started writing it back in April so some of the references might be a little dated, since apparently in 2020 things get dated by the month. This takes place after episode 105 (Hades and Minthe are no longer together) and before episode 114 (Hades and Persephone kiss). At the start of this fic they're still on Kore's plan to stay apart-ish as they sort out their own shit.

_Dull sublunary lovers' love  
(Whose soul is sense) cannot admit  
Absence, because it doth remove  
Those things which elemented it.  
  
But we by a love so much refined,  
That our selves know not what it is,  
Inter-assured of the mind,  
Care less, eyes, lips, and hands to miss._

\--Excerpt from "A Valediction Forbidding Mourning," by John Donne

  


Zeus was in a trudging mood.

Hera had caught him breaking quarantine 5 days ago when he’d come back from seeing one of his lovers, and she’d been an absolute  _ hellion _ about keeping him indoors ever since. If that weren’t bad enough, she wasn’t putting out either, since breaking quarantine meant waiting 14 days to ensure you didn’t bring the virus back with you. “You brought this on yourself, asshole,” she’d shouted from her room before she slammed the door. He couldn’t appear in there - Hera had made sure of  _ that _ long ago. But he also couldn’t  _ leave. _ She’d  _ done _ something to the fucking house. Every time he tried to disappear he just reappeared back where he started.

_ One day that woman and I are going to murder each other and it’ll be her fault, _ Zeus thought as he trudged down the stairs, somehow managed to make a cup of coffee trudgingly, and glared at the big screen as the news trudged on and on about this godsdamned virus. Viruses weren’t supposed to happen to gods, but this one had somehow figured it out. What’s worse, it was serious. Potentially fatal to nymphs, and gods seemed to go into some sort of coma when their bodies were overwhelmed. Right now, Ares, Hecate, Athena, and Dionysus were unconscious in an Olympus hospital that had only served nymphs and demigods until a few weeks ago. Thanatos and Poseidon had come out of their disease-induced comas and seemed to be doing alright, but who knew how long the others would take. Days? Years? Thousands of Years? Everything was so new, and that fucking moron Apollo (how in tartarus had he gotten to be god of medicine again?) was taking his sweet ass time figuring the damn thing out. And while studied the damned thing, everyone else was stuck with their godsforsaken wives in their godsforsaken houses where they COULDN’T DO A GODSFORSAKEN THING.

“Thank you, Ianthe,” said Euthemia Ashe, the business-pretty blonde Mountain nymph whose hair was much bigger when Zeus wasn’t pulling it, “We now go live to the Underworld, where Hades is delivering the daily pandemic update.”

Suddenly Zeus’s mood became a thousand times trudgier. Two minutes into watching his brother give practical predictions on virus spread, research, mask production and social distancing impact and Zeus felt the coffee cup crunch into shards in his right hand. Zeus had tried to do the same noble leader thing, coordinating health workers and essential business supports and all that other stuff. But he was  _ garbage _ at handling this sort of crisis. Give him a delegation to schmooze, a father to banish, a set of panties to get into and he was your man, but all anybody cared about with this virus were fucking  _ numbers. _ How many deaths, what’s the infection rate, how many face masks, blah-de-fucking-blah. And he’d said as much in the early news briefings on the virus - stop asking stupid questions and stay the fuck home, smarter people than any of us have got the numbers shit taken care of. And now, his notoriously camera shy brother had somehow shed his aversion to publicity overnight and become the godsdamned face of the Olympian response to the crisis.

“Now I only have a few minutes for questions, yes, the nymph in the back?” said Hades, like the smug bastard he is.   


“Nyxie Nautilus, Olympus Sports. Since gyms everywhere are closed, where can Olympians find guidelines for exercising safely while practicing social distancing?” said a peppy young sea nymph who, to Zeus’s shock, he  _ hadn’t _ slept with. Yet.

“That’s a great question. I have a team working on something more official but for now, using home exercise machines, engaging in solitary exercises like yoga or pilates, and even going on a run outside are acceptable so long as 6 feet of space are between you and other people at all times, and any shared equipment is either sanitized or left untouched for a week,” said Hades.

Zeus quirked a lip, half of an idea starting to form in his brain, but then another reporter was speaking.

“Zaxel Bratt, Cloud Nine News. It’s been two weeks since your brother Zeus stopped giving daily briefings because, and I quote, ‘You turds get all your information from my idiot brother anyway.’ Are you currently coordinating with Zeus?”

_ Don’t do it, _ thought Zeus, regretting he’d already filled his quota of angry smashes for the day,  _ Don’t do it, don’t do it, don’t do it. _

“No, my brother had been a bit… difficult to work with.” said Hades, who fucking  _ did it. _ He then hastily added, “but I have no complaints in his leadership. Furthermore, he and I are working very different sides of this pandemic response; I’m in the manufacturing of necessary goods and crunching of data. Zeus has a… a very  _ different _ skill set to exercise--”

“What skill set is that?” pressed Zaxel, like a prick.

“I’m sorry, if you would like a full rundown of my brother’s responsibilities and capabilities you would be better off asking him,” said Hades evasively, “Now if you’ll please excuse me, I hope you can understand I’m very busy and need to get back to work.”

“Ok, what happened,” said Hera, who at some point had appeared on the other side of the room.

Zeus glanced out the window. A powerful lightning storm was raging outside. He took a deep breath and managed to quiet the storm to some onerous-looking clouds.

“Nothing, sweetheart,” said Zeus, “I just realized I haven’t exercised in a while. I think I’d like to go for a run.”  



	2. Chapter 2

_ What an interesting way to learn, _ thought Persephone irritably, as she physically restrained herself from adjusting her mask yet again,  _ that apparently all I do, all the time, every day, is touch my face. _

Persephone was trying to get better about letting herself feel a little irritated sometimes, but only in the down time between drop offs. And right now, when her mask was getting too close to her eyes, and her nose itched, and her back ached, and a storm that had come out of _nowhere_ had drenched her clothes, and the bags of groceries she was hauling to a nymph who couldn’t safely get her own were pulling on her arms, Persephone decided she was allowed to be a _little_ _pissed off._

But only a little. She didn’t need another... incident. Especially not now.

At least this was the last drop-off for the day. As Persephone placed the groceries by the front door, stretched her arms and rolled her neck, all she could think about was the hot soup, hot bubble bath, and trash tv series she was binging with Artemis, all waiting for her back at home, like the second warmest hug she could think of.

_ Maybe I’ll text Hades, _ she thought, as she took off,  _ I know he’s busy right now but-- _

At that moment, a loud and very insistent “MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” interrupted her thoughts. Immediately below her, Zeus, in the form of a giant purple bull, had his horns stuck in a rosebush.

Persephone stopped and hovered. The most likely scenario was that Zeus thought the stupid village girl wouldn’t recognize him in his bull form, and was trying to pull a Europa maneuver on her. Even if she hadn’t recognized him specifically, only a dolt wouldn’t have noticed that bulls bellow, not moo. If she stopped to help him, she risked getting kidnapped. But if she continued on her way, Zeus would be furious, find her later, and mete out an appropriate punishment for ignoring the king of the gods in “distress”. 

Persephone let out an exhausted groan, and rubbed the back of her neck as she mulled her options over. If she were punished, there was a non-zero chance Artemis would be wrapped up in it. Zeus had no qualms ruining the lives of all of the nymphs and minor deities in her mother’s realm whenever she’d told him an inconvenient “No.” If she were kidnapped, on the other hand, she could probably hold him off long enough to call her mother. No, call Hades. Heck, she may call them both. In any event, she had cards up her sleeve that Zeus probably hadn’t accounted for.

Persephone landed a solid ten feet away from Zeus and crossed her arms defensively.

“Your highness, please,” she said, “I’ve just spent all day delivering groceries and I am exhausted. If this is some sort of test of my loyalty or kind-heartedness, could we do it another day?”

Bull-Zeus stopped struggling, looked at Persephone, then to Persephone’s surprise changed back into Zeus’s bipedal form, now with his hair tangled horribly in the bush.

“Persephone, thank goodness,” he said as he tried to untangle his hair, then drew it back sharply as a rose pricked his finger, “Give me a hand, will you? I was running and tripped right into this bush. I’d smite it off but it’s one of Aphrodite’s and she’ll kill me if I damage it.

With a wave of her hand, Persephone, moved the bush around to disentangle Zeus. He looked a little surprised as he got up to his feet, like he forgot that the goddess of spring wouldn’t have to get near him to do something like that. But he immediately put on a grin.

“Thank you, dear,” said Zeus, “I see you’re doing your part to help during the pandemic too.”

“I’m glad I could be of service,” said Persephone dully avoiding the conversation segue, “Now if you’ll excuse me--”

“Wait, where are you going? Can I give you a ride?” asked Zeus, and suddenly any lingering doubt Persephone had that this was a setup was gone.

“My king, please,” said Persephone backing away, “it’s not good right now to be close to people you’re not living with. It can spread the virus.”

“What?” said Zeus, “Wait, you think I’m trying to kidnap you for sex right now? Is that what you think is happening?”

Persephone agonized for what felt like an eternity on the right way to respond.

“No, Persephone, that’s not what’s happening. I mean, you’re pretty hot in that sort of, innocent-but-with-huge-cans kind of way, but I’m not interested, and gods know I’d never kidnap you for  _ me. _ ”

Persephone was relaxing a bit as Zeus spoke, right up until he got to that weirdly-emphasized “ _ me _ ” at the end. As soon as that thought crossed her mind, Zeus disappeared, then reappeared behind her, grabbing her arms.

“I’d kidnap you for my  _ brother, _ ” he whispered in her ear, and before Persephone could think another thought, the world dissolved and they were gone.


	3. Chapter 3

In Hades’s experience, exhaustion existed on a sort of line plot, with an X and a Y axis.

The X axis was tiredness itself, measured by how much your body was yelling at you to sleep. On the X axis, Hades was pretty far along. On a scale of 0-10 he was somewhere around an 8 right now, and probably had 9 and 10 nights to look forward to if that dipshit Apollo could get his shit together and start working with the nymph doctor corps to test his latest fucking vaccine. Like anything important, it was complicated and there were many minutiae to hash out and egos to avoid bruising (well, one particularly big one anyway), but if something didn’t happen soon, it’d be a shitshow at a time when no one could afford a shitshow.

But even though Hades’s tiredness was high, he was doing very well on the other axis of his personal exhaustion scale, which was self-loathing. Usually when he’d gone this long without a good night’s sleep his anxiety started to kick in about how little he was getting done, how useless he was that he couldn’t even sleep well, how much he was letting everyone down, how worthless he was, and it had made the exhaustion a thousand times worse. But Hades was getting shit  _ done. _ Protective equipment production was up 1000% in the past two weeks. Social distancing measures, bolstered by an extremely effective ad campaign from his marketing department, were working. A volunteer corps of gods (among them Persephone, which Hades tried not to worry about) were working to protect more vulnerable nymphs and keep infection rates low. Even with the bumps from the vaccine side of things, they were no longer getting their asses kicked by this virus. It finally felt like they were starting to hit back and it felt  _ good. _

So when Hades first heard the knock at his door that evening, he was… well, a little grumpy that he’d have to wait a bit longer to collapse into bed, but not in bad spirits. Just tired. That, of course, changed instantly the moment he opened the door and saw Zeus, wearing the sort of grin that could only hide some pretty intense godly fury.

“Hello brother!” said Zeus, as he barrelled past Hades into his living room.

“Wha-- Zeus! What are you-- you can’t be coming to visit right now!” said an utterly flustered and now quite irritated Hades.

“Oops, I guess listening isn’t in my ‘different skillset’,” said Zeus glibly as he looked around at the bit of a mess Hades’ house had become in the absence of a regular cleaner.

Hades would’ve smacked himself in the face if he hadn’t been assiduously practicing not touching his face. Instead he looked up at the ceiling, sighed, and intoned, “You saw today’s briefing.”

“Sure did!” said Zeus, “And you’re so right, I’ve been ever so very difficult to work with. So I thought I might help you with some problems you’ve been having!”

_ Wherever this is going it isn’t good, _ thought Hades, as he put his hands up in deference.

“Now, Zeus--”

“Don’t you ‘now Zeus’ me,” Zeus huffed, “Not when I’m  _ helping. _ See, I thought you should know I’ve spent the last 20 minutes going all  _ sorts _ of places! Hospitals, nymph neighborhoods, all places we know have been hit hard by the pandemic, to see how things are going. I’m happy to report they’re going pretty great! I know  _ you’ve _ been reluctant to go there yourself to keep the disease from getting to you, but, shucks, little old me just can’t  _ resist _ the opportunity to gladhand and schmooze. It’s my skillset after all.” 

Zeus picked up the ladle from the soup on the stove and took a sip, then made a face and dropped it back in the pot, before he added, “Although by coming here I guess that means you’ve been in the presence of a potentially contaminated person. Looks like you won’t be doing press conferences for a bit. Oh well, we both know you don’t much care for reporters anyway.”

“For fuck’s  _ sake, _ Zeus--” Hades started angrily.

“Oh don’t thank me yet!” said Zeus, “Y’see, you’ve also been doing this whole business all by yourself. Or so you implied to those reporters. And that’s not fair, is it? So now you have a quarantine buddy!”

Zeus snapped his fingers and Persephone was sitting on Hades’ couch, clearly there against her will.

“Please reach out to your favorite difficult brother if you want any more help! Bye!” said Zeus, as he quickly vanished to who knows where, leaving Hades to discover a whole brand new axis on the exhaustion scale: fury. It didn’t last long, however, because at that second Hades saw Persephone starting to cry.

“Sweetness--” started Hades, as he immediately headed toward her, feeling the draw of her like a magnet in his soul.

“Wait! Stop!” said Persephone, “Please, I’m… we have to stay separate.”

Hades stopped. Up until this point he’d felt a sort of sadness for the demigods, nymphs, and gods he respected who’d fallen victim to this terrible disease, and empathy for those who’d lost loved ones to it. But he hadn’t considered himself personally affected by it until this moment. Hades wished more than anything that he could reach out and take Persephone into his arms right now. But he couldn’t, and for the first time, Hades’ felt the misery of this godsforsaken pandemic personally.

“Please don’t cry, Kore,” said Hades, “please don’t be sad.”

“I’m not sad, Aidoneus, I’m angry,” spat Persephone, before she quickly added, “not at you, and not at him. At myself. I knew Zeus would pull something like this and I stopped to help him anyway, like the stupid village girl I am.”

“Kore, darling, there isn’t a single word in any realm that suits you more poorly than ‘stupid,’” said Hades, as he got down to one knee, to be at least at the same level as Persephone, who was still sitting on the couch and furiously rubbing tears from her eyes. “You are a beautiful, kind, honorable soul, and dipshits like my brother take those wonderful qualities and twist them to their own ends. None of this, not any of it, is your fault.”

“Well, I guess it doesn’t matter,” said Persephone, as she stood up and crossed her arms, “What matters is what in Olympus we’re going to do now.”

“What do you mean?” said Hades, getting to his feet.

“Well, you heard Zeus. He’s potentially infected, which means both of us are too,” said Persephone, as she grew a few more angry red thorns in her hair, but she shook her head and continued, “I can’t go home and risk infecting Artemis. You can’t go back to work, at least not in-person. We can’t be near each other either, since even before now we’ve both run in different circles and could’ve picked up the virus then. For both of our safety, we need to figure out how to share this house for the next two weeks, but also keep apart.”

The crushing realization of just how thoroughly Zeus had fucked him over hit Hades like a body blow, and it was his turn to collapse on a kitchen chair.  _ Of COURSE, _ Hades thought miserably,  _ he knows what a bind this is. Zeus put me in my own level of Tartarus and there is nothing I can do about it. And what’s worse, he put Persephone in it with me. All because I couldn’t keep my stupid mouth shut. _

“I-- I don’t--” Hades stammered.

“Do you have a guest house?” said Persephone hopefully, “If not, sharing the kitchen will be tricky, but--”

“Kore, you and I both know the kitchen isn’t the problem here,” said Hades, anguish choking his words.

“Aidoneus,” said Persephone, as she got down on one knee to get on Hades’ level, mimicking what he’d done only minutes before, “I know and you know that this is going to be… hard. For both of us. But if you’ve taught me anything, it’s that I’m stronger than I know. And I think you are too. And we have each other to help us through this.”

Hades closed his eyes and took a deep breath. If anyone else had said it he would have shrugged them off. But when Persephone said it, it almost sounded true. Even apart like this, he had her with him. And if she were with him, Hades could move the whole damned world if he had to. Especially if her safety were at stake. He could do this. They could do this.

Hades swallowed, and started putting words together. “That door there separates the two wings of the house. I’ll go to the North wing. It has its own kitchen and separate entryway. You stay here, and keep Cerberus with you. I don’t think Zeus will try to drop in again but if he does, Cerberus will know what to do with him. Give me a half hour to collect the rest of the dogs and everything else I’ll need for two weeks. In the meantime, make a list of what you’ll need, and I’ll have it shipped. And Kore?”

“Yes?” said Persephone as she tilted her head and by the gods did Hades want to kiss her until the world stopped spinning.

“I’ll be right here,” said Hades over the lump in his throat.

Persephone smiled, “I’ll be right here.”


	4. Chapter 4

“It’s not like we’re asking for something permanent,” said Hades into his bluetooth headset, as he simultaneously typed an email to the PR department and typed a text to his marketing department, “We just need one Fate once a week to spend a day spinning thread for more masks. There’s no other way to keep up with the demand, and they’re the fastest there is.”

“You’re sure we can keep up with the traffic from the mortal realm with only two Fates?” asked Hecate on the other end of the line.

“If they don’t like it, tell them to call me,” said Hades, as he picked up a pen and wrote down another name on his  _ people who might be rage-calling me soon _ list, “I’ll deal with it.”

“You and I both know they’re going to storm up to your office, and then  _ I’ll _ have to deal with it,” Hecate huffed, “which I don’t mind, but I’m getting a bit tired of taking the brunt of all the push back on your decisions while you’re in quarantine.”

“Hang on, I’ve got someone on the other line,” said Hades.

“Don’t you DARE put me on hold AGAI-” said Hecate, in the split second it took until he changed the line.   
  
“Hades speaking.”

“You know even though I work for you, I think this is the first time I’ve heard your office voice,” said Persephone, audibly grinning on the other line.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m always nothing but professional with you,” said Hades, flirting in spite of himself.

“We’ll have to do something about that,” said Persephone, flirting back.

“Is there something you wanted?” asked Hades as he picked up the latest in today’s line of coffees, “I don’t mean to rush you but--”

“I know, you’re very busy right now. I’m calling because there’s a very angry nymph at the South wing gate who seems like they want to see you pretty badly. They’re, uh… shouting a lot.”

“Are they shouting about vaccines, gym closings, or PPE?” asked Hades.

“…Sounds like they’re saying ‘where’s the fucking face shields, asshole.’”

“That’ll be Dr. Rix, head of the Olympian Medical Association,” sighed Hades, as he crossed their name off his  _ people who might be rage-calling me _ list, “Push the black button on the speaker next to the door. That’ll send them round my way - I can try to talk them down through the window.”

“Mmmm… no,” said Persephone.

“Pardon?”

“No. I’m not going to open the gates at all. They’re here at your house while you’re quarantining for their and everyone else’s safety  _ and _ you’re their king while they’re here in the Underworld. They should know better than to speak to you like this.”

“Persephone--”

“And while we’re talking about work, Hades, when’s the last time you got a full night of sleep?” said Persephone.

“Look, can we talk about this later?” dodged Hades.

“Hades,” said Persephone, “I’m not just bringing this up because… because I care about you.”

Hades’ stomach did a somersault as whatever dodge he had prepared next stuck in his throat.

“If you’re not working at your best, this virus is going to get away from us again,” said Persephone carefully, “And what happened with Zeus two days ago to stick us both here in the first place, you and I both know that wouldn’t have happened if you were on top of your game.”

The Hades Personal Exhaustion Scale suddenly picked up a thousand points on the “Self Loathing” axis.

“But I don’t want you to feel bad about it!” Persephone added quickly, “I’m just saying, this is an easy problem to fix. Hecate is brilliant, and she knows how to handle rude nymphs just as well as you. She can run the show for a little bit while you look after yourself.”

Hades leaned back in his home office chair and tried to run his fingers through his hair, before realizing his hand was still holding the quadruple espresso he’d been about to drink. He looked down at his desk, which had accumulated untidy mountains of various reports, memos, take out containers, and other detritus from the past few weeks. It struck him that even at his most busy, he’d  _ never _ let his desk get this untidy before, except when he was in a really, really bad state. 

“I’ll think about it,” said Hades, as he put down his coffee.

“Thank you,” said Persephone, sounding relieved, “In the meantime, I believe Cerberus is overdue for some outside time. I think I’ll let him out near the South gate.”

“Cerberus doesn’t… Persephone, what--”

“Sorry, bad connection, bye!” trilled Persephone, as the line went dead.

Hades sighed, and switched the line back to Hecate.

“I’m sorry, Dr. Rix showed up,” said Hades.

“Uggghhh, that  _ jerk _ ,” said Hecate, “Did you get rid of them?”

“Persephone thought it best to acquaint them with Cerberus.”

Hecate chuckled. “Persephone’s got the right idea. Any of your other dogs free to handle Apollo? He’s on my other line right now.”

“I’ll see if Cordon Bleu can pencil him in,” Hades said, “but uh… there’s actually something I want to ask. This pandemic’s hit us both pretty hard, how’re you holding up?”

“Probably about as well as you,” said Hecate, “but I’ve already put in for time off the week after next for some serious spa and retail therapy.”

“Do you think… do you think you can take over for me for a couple of days?” asked Hades.

“Yes  _ please _ ,” said Hecate with relish, “Give me a week where nobody can ‘I want to speak to your boss’ at me - I cannot  _ wait _ to roll some heads. When do you want to start?”

“Is today too soon?” said Hades through a wince.

“Absolutely not. Go make goo-goo eyes at your housemate, I’ve got it covered.”

“I am  _ not _ \--” started Hades, but the line was already dead.

Hades stood up and walked to the kitchen sink to dump out his coffee. “Euphonia?” he asked.

“How can I help you today, Hades?” said the perky digital home assistant prototype that ran through Hades’ home. 

_ Still too perky _ , thought Hades as he made a mental note to speak with the development team, before he asked, “Where is Persephone right now?”

“Persephone is on the South lawn,” said Euphonia. The tv across from the kitchen in the living room immediately started playing security camera footage of her playing fetch with Cerberus, using what looked suspiciously like Dr. Rix’s briefcase. She was laughing and running and had magnolia petals streaming from her hair and Hades would’ve traded his entire kingdom to be out there with her.

“When she gets back in the house, give her this message from me: ‘I took your advice, and I’m taking a nap.’”

“When shall I set your alarm for?” asked Euphonia.

“You know what? Don’t bother. For now just clear my schedule for the next week and assign all work tasks to Hecate.”

“Right away, Hades. What about your emails?”

“If they’re truly urgent, Hecate’s already cc’ed on them. I’ll deal with what’s left when I go back to work.”

“Of course,” said Euphonia, who immediately created email folders for “truly urgent” and “not truly urgent” according to Hades’ specifications. Among the various emails in the second folder was the following.

_ Subject: I fucked up _

_ I was lying about visiting all those virus-heavy places the other day, but it turns out it didn’t matter - I just got a positive test today. Not sure how long I’ve been positive or where it came from, but you and Persephone should probably get tested. _

_ I’m sorry. _

_ \-- Zeus _


	5. Chapter 5

“Queen to B3 - checkmate,” said Persephone.

On the other end of the video call in the huge living room flatscreen tv, Hades started, then laughed as he tipped over his king on his chessboard.

“You,” said Hades, “are a chess  _ menace _ , Persephone.”

“I don’t know what you mean,” trilled Persephone, as she started resetting her board’s pieces, “best out of 7?”

“I think I’ve had enough of a beating for one day,” said Hades, as he stretched. The hem of his sweatshirt pulled up to expose his abs, and for a brief moment Persephone would’ve lost a game of chess, checkers, or tic tac toe to anyone who’d’ve been playing against her.

“Suit yourself.” said Persephone with a gulp, “Oh, while I have you - we’re 5 days into this arrangement and we never really set ground rules for what I can and can’t do in your house.”

“No need. You’re not exactly loud or destructive, and there’s nothing on that wing of the house worth snooping into.”

“About that,” said Persephone, “I may have… found something while I was looking for the tv remote. And I have an important question for you.”

“Oh?” said Hades, sounding more curious than anxious.

“Which month were you going to be?” asked Persephone, as she pulled out the photo proofs in a manila folder marked  _ Sexy Gods Calendar - Hades final photo proofs _ .

Hades blushed deeply. “That… was for charity.”

“So it says,” giggled Persephone, “Why are you standing in front of a fire with no shirt on? Isn’t that dangerous?”

“I said the same thing!” laughed Hades, “They photoshopped in the fire. Apparently a lot of people think the king of the underworld spends his time poking at dead people in fires with a trident?”

“People think the weirdest things about your job,” said Persephone with a chuckle, “who else is going to be in the calendar?”

“ _ Was. _ The project got scrapped when the virus picked up,” said Hades, “and I’m not really sure. I know Zeus would never turn down an opportunity to take a beefcake picture, and if I were on this project I’d also have Poseidon, Eros, Hermes, Dionysus, and Ares on my call list.”

“Not Apollo?” asked Persephone, careful not to betray any emotion.

“Apollo is notoriously difficult to work with on literally anything, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he wasn’t called just to avoid his ego. Trying to get him to cooperate with the doctors on Olympus with his vaccine effort has been 90% of my migraines the past 2 months.”

“Sounds about right,” said Persephone, “If this ever gets made you should get a different photographer though. You look much hot-- better in a suit.”

“Is that so?” said Hades, and Persephone had to inconspicuously brush blue petals out of her hair.

Hades leaned back on the couch and said, “While we’re coming clean… there’s something you should know.”

“You didn’t go snooping around  _ my _ place looking for the tv remote, did you?” teased Persephone.

“Don’t worry, I pay people to do my snooping,” joked Hades, “But this morning a care package arrived for you from Artemis just after you went to your online class. It was marked ‘Open Me Immediately!’ So I did. And it turns out she just wanted to make sure you got to the piece of her birthday cake in it before it got stale - don’t worry, I didn’t steal any. I’ll go put the box by your door in a minute. But I saw something else inside, and I have my own question for you.”

“Oh?” asked Persephone, more curious than anxious. Hades had already seen everything she had to be embarrassed about, hadn’t he?

Hades reached into a box on his side table and pulled out a pink sparkly notebook emblazoned with  _ The Muses _ on the cover - a girl band of minor gods who’ve been touring for as long as anyone can remember. “Are you accepting criticism on your  _ Muses _ fanfiction, or is it still a work in progress?”

Persephone’s hair burst into a bouquet of deep scarlet roses, which she knew perfectly matched the color of her face, “I… you read  _ all of it _ !?”

“No, just the page it was already open to inside the box. But that’s the page Artemis had left open with a sticky note on it that says, ‘We are SO talking about this when you get back,’ so she probably has.”

“It was the page with Calliope and Erok making out wasn’t it?” said Persephone through her fingers, feeling like she might just self-combust with sheer mortification.

“I see you remember it,” grinned Hades.

“I was thirteen!” shrieked Persephone, “Mother had let me see them when they were touring in the mortal realm and… and I was extremely hormonal, extremely bisexual, and extremely thirteen!!”

Hades chuckled, “When all of this is over,  _ The Muses _ tour in the Underworld sometimes. I can probably call in a few favors and get you backstage.”

“Oh please no, I would die of embarrassment,” said Persephone.

“Eh, it’s the underworld. We could bring you back,” said Hades.

Persephone finally removed her hands from her face and glared back at Hades. “Ok, that was a full-on scoundrel move.”

“A hundred percent?”

“ _ A thousand percent. _ That was  _ so much _ more embarrassing than those pictures. We have to even the scales.”

“Sorry, all my sparkly notebooks full of fanfiction are on  _ this _ side of the house,” trilled Hades, “I’m afraid we’ll just have to leave things as they are for now.”

Persephone perked up her head, as an idea struck her. “What about your treasure box?”

“My what?”

“Hang on,” said Persephone, and she raced down the hallway and into the coat closet she’d found while looking for the bathroom on her first day here, and spotted the box where she remembered it. It was very old, wooden, about the size of a shoe box, and had “My Stuf” painted on the top in a child’s hand. She brought it back triumphantly to the living room and brandished it in front of the camera.

“There’s got to be  _ something _ in here that evens us out at least a little,” said Persephone, “Can I look inside?”

“Persephone um… that’s from my childhood,” said Hades uncomfortably.

“Well yeah, of course it is,” said Persephone.

“I… I hid that just before I was… before--”

Realization struck Persephone like a falling cedar.

“Oh my gosh, I am so, so sorry,” said Persephone.

“No, it’s alright,” said Hades, “it’s just that there’s, um, nothing really embarrassing in there. If that’s what you’re looking for.”

“Of course it’s not alright,” said Persephone, “I was going to mine something really painful to you for a cheap laugh. That’s not ok. I’m going to put this back and--”

“Actually,” said Hades, “I’d kind of like for you to open it. It’s… it’s been a really long time since I’ve looked at what’s in there. I think it might help, going through it with a friend. But… no, I’m sorry, you don’t have to--”

“Hades,” said Persephone, “I don’t want you to share anything that makes you uncomfortable. But if you want to share this with me, I’d be honored.”

“...yeah. Yeah, I think I do,” said Hades.

Persephone placed the box on the coffee table and gently removed the lid, careful not to damage it.

“Let’s see… I see a hag stone… some snail shells… and a couple of animal skulls in here. Squirrel, rabbit, and… is this a fox?”

“Ah, we didn’t exactly have toy stores back then, so I played with what I found in the forest.”

“Wow, you really were you from the beginning,” said Persephone with a grin, as she imagined the little god of death holding up rabbit skulls like action figures. Something glittery caught her eye as she was placing the last of the skulls next to the box and Persephone gasped. “Awwww, I see we have baby’s first gemstones in here,” she cooed, as she held up a small handful of rough-cut rubies, emeralds and sapphires.

Hades smiled, “Those first ones took the whole day to make. Mo-- Rhea, she liked the sapphires the best. She said they matched my skin.”

“She sounds like a good mom,” said Persephone.

“She was,” said Hades, “she would’ve loved you.”

Persephone blinked back tears as she reverently placed the stones on the table. “Alright, the last things I see in here are some drawings on birch bark.”

“You don’t have to look at those if you don’t want to,” said Hades, looking away.

But Persephone was already paging through them. Drawing after drawing of himself, his mother, and a dark, scary blob drawn in charcoal. Persephone made a show of fixing her hair, to hide the angry red thorns over her ears. No matter how badly she wanted to go back in time and feed Kronos to a titan-eating plant, Hades didn’t need to be managing her anger right now. So she took a breath, willed some neutral jasmine flowers into her hair, and said, “Hades, I hope you’ve been told this before but it’s worth saying again. Your father was horrible, and there’s nothing you did to deserve what he did to you.”

Hades took a deep breath. “I know,” he said, “Thank you for saying it anyway.”

Persephone was about to start replacing items in the box when she spotted something she’d missed.

“Oh! We have an acorn in here!”

“Oh really?” said Hades excitedly, “That wasn’t intentional. I hid this box in my mother’s favorite oak tree, because I knew she’d want it if anything, um, happened. It must’ve gotten inside somehow. I’d never noticed it before. It’s--” Hades took a breath and swallowed. “I never knew I had something to remember her by.”

“Hades,” said Persephone cradling the seed in her hands, “when all of this is over, would you like to plant this?”

“Like… in the mortal realm? I kind of want to hold onto it--”

“No I mean here, behind your house. I know a mortal realm oak tree wouldn’t normally grow down here but, well, I’m me. I’d have to visit occasionally to keep it alive, but--”

“Kore,” said Hades, voice thick with emotion, “I-- yes. Yes, I would like that very much.”

Persephone smiled, and placed the treasures back in the box, saving the acorn for last. There was no way she could ever thank Rhea for the kindness she showed to Hades, but if there was any closure or repayment to be had in making this small piece of her into something alive and beautiful, Persephone was going to find it.  _ Thank you Rhea, _ thought Persephone, as she closed the box,  _ for loving him. I’ve got it from here. _

“Could you maybe leave the box by the door? I think I’d like to look through it later. Somehow it feels less daunting now,” said Hades.

“Of course. I-- if you ever want to talk about any of this, Hades” started Persephone.

“You’re right there,” finished Hades.

Persephone smiled. “Yes. I’m right here.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the kind comments. Just a quick note before we get into this chapter - I remembered a poem that fits this fic's tone really well, so I went back to Chapter 1 and added a snippet of it at the beginning to set the mood. It's not necessary to the story to go back and read it, but I thought I'd note it for any reader who wants to read the whole fic.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Now you just top it with a bit of parsley… and you’re done.” said Hades, as he plated his immaculate, beautiful, perfect bowl of mushroom stroganoff on the other end of the video call.

Persephone looked down at her lumpy, half raw, ice cold bowl of mushroom sludge and sighed.

“C’mon let me see how yours turned out!” said Hades, as he picked up his tablet.

“Maybe we sh-- wait. Do you smell that?” asked Persephone.

Hades sniffed and dropped the tablet. In the extreme right corner of the screen, Persephone saw him pull out the chocolate babka they’d also prepared earlier, now reduced to charcoal.

“But that’s not due to come out for another 10 minutes! How hot did you set your oven?” asked Persephone.

“Too hot, I suppose. And judging from that dodge, I’m guessing your stroganoff turned out about as well as my babka did,” smirked Hades.

Persephone quirked a grin. “I have exactly seven dinner recipes I can make competently, and they each took a year of practice before they were edible.”

“But you’re such a good baker! How--”

“Probably in the same way you’re such a good cook,” chuckled Persephone.

Hades laughed, “Spaghetti for you then?”

“The water’s already boiling,” said Persephone with a grin, “mug cake for you?”

“Already measured and mixed,” said Hades, who was grinning too.

“When did we become so predictable?” said Persephone.

“Oh don’t worry, I have a few surprises yet,” said Hades, as he stuck a finger into his stew and gave it a taste, his finger passing over his lips and now it was suddenly extremely hot in Persephone’s kitchen.

“Uh… the spaghetti, I should--” said Persephone, who realized with a start that by leaning onto her elbows in front of the tablet she’d been giving the god of the Underworld a very revealing shot of her cleavage, and stood up straight immediately.

“Yeah, I should eat this before it gets cold,” said Hades, who was blushing violently himself.

“So,” said Persephone intent on preventing an awkward silence, as she pulled her own immaculate babka out of the oven, “who picks the movie tonight?”

“You know we don’t  _ have _ to watch the same movie if you don’t want to,” said Hades.

“But it’s more fun when you watch movies with your friends,” said Persephone, the word ‘friends’ leaving a weird taste in her mouth. Was that really what they were? After they’d spent a week together in the same house, semi-constantly talking with, laughing with, and (as much as Persephone didn’t want to admit it) flirting with each other? Friends?

“I know, but you have so many other friends than me. If you want to arrange something with Artemis or… did I say something wrong?” said Hades as he watched Persephone’s progression of facial expressions.

“No, it’s-- I talked to Artemis earlier today. And my mother. Neither conversation went very well,” said Persephone in the understatement of the millennium.

“Oh.” said Hades, who was clearly lost for words.

“Artemis cracked and told my mother where I was actually staying,” said Persephone, unable to keep a little bitterness from seeping into her voice. “I can’t even be angry with her because I’ve been on the other side of my mother’s interrogations. It was only a matter of time. She’s relentless.”

“How’d the conversation with your mother go?” asked Hades.

“Can we talk about something else?” asked Persephone, as she forcefully steered her thoughts away from that tearful chapter of the day.

“Ok,” said Hades, “but remember. I’m right here,” said Hades.

Persephone looked at his kind eyes. She traced her finger along his jawline in the video, wishing desperately she could melt through the glass and touch the real thing.

“I know,” she said softly.

“Well, I think you’ve earned picking the entertainment tonight. Do you want to watch another chapter of that documentary about those idiot hydra breeders?” asked Hades.

“Not if you’re going to get mad about it again,” teased Persephone.

“That man was almost governor of Athens!” exclaimed Hades, “the citizens of Athens knew he’d gotten his leg torn off by a hydra he kept as a pet, and one in five of them thought he’d be a good fit to rule their city!”

“That’s democracy for you,” giggled Persephone, who was already loading up the next episode of  _ Hydra Emperor, _ “Oh, thank you for turning up the heat in the house, by the way, but you can turn it back down if you like. I can make do with my usual blanket cocoon.”

“I didn’t change the thermostat,” said Hades.

“Oh. I must be getting used to the temperature then.”

“When was the last time you took your temp--”

“Oh my gosh, are you ready to watch a bunch of nimrods try to tame some hydras with me or not?” said Persephone, a little too quickly.

Hades paused, as if deciding whether to press her on this, then added, “Alright. By the way, that one woman definitely did murder her husband. I got Thanatos to find him and ask.”

They spent the next hour becoming more and more amused by the sheer idiocy of a very bizarre subset of mortals. When Persephone went to bed that night, she took her temperature again. The fever that had started three days ago was getting worse, and she wasn’t sure how much longer she could hide the coughing from Hades.


	7. Chapter 7

“Euphonia, what time is it?” asked Hades.

“It is 10:17 AM,” said Euphonia, cheerfully, before she added, “Would you like me to put a clock display on the television screen in the living room?”

Hades knew that Euphonia was programmed to ask this whenever someone asked that question three times within ten minutes, to help users with memory loss. But right now, coming from her, it sounded more than a little passive aggressive.

“No thank you, Euphonia. Call Persephone, please.”

“Calling Persephone,” said Euphonia, cheerfully. Hades was anything but cheerful. Persephone always called first every day, as soon as Hades finished his swim and she finished her yoga. But today, nothing. Which didn’t necessarily mean anything by itself, but Hades had gotten the sense over the past few days that something was off about Persephone. Fewer visuals, her voice sounding a bit different… it had all picked up over the past few days. It was like she was hiding something, but Hades couldn’t figure out what Persephone would feel the need to hide from him, or why.

Ten rings in Hades was ready to appear in Persephone’s bedroom when she finally answered.

“ _ Aidoneus _ ,” she said, her voice sounding extremely rough.

“Kore?” said Hades, “You sound… did I just wake you up?”

“Yeah. I’m sorry, I was just really tired.”

Hades wrung his hands and wrestled with himself internally, before he finally said, “Kore, what’s going on? Are you ok?”

“Yeah, I’m--”

“I know we’ve only known each other for a short time, but I think I can tell when you’re not telling the truth by now. At least not the whole truth.”

There was silence on the other end of the line for a moment, before Persephone said, “I need you to promise not to be upset.”

“What’s happened?” asked Hades, upset.

“Hades, I’m alright,” said Persephone, “but… wait a second, I’m switching to a video call.”

The screen flickered on. Persephone was lying in bed in a bathrobe, absolutely surrounded with used tissues. Her head was crowned with thoroughly wilted peonies. She looked like she hadn’t slept in days.

“ _ Kore _ ,” exclaimed Hades.

“ _ Don’t _ come over here,” said Persephone, as she promptly started a coughing fit.

“You’re sick!” said Hades.

“And you’re not. I’m not going to let you put yourself at risk,” said Persephone.

“We have to get you to the hospital,” said Hades, heart racing, already thinking a thousand miles a minute.

_ “ NO _ _,”_ shouted Persephone so loud it started another coughing fit. “I’m not sick enough to need it yet. Someone else needs that bed.”

“To TARTARUS with ‘someone else,’ I am NOT losing you!” exclaimed Hades.

“It’s not just that, Hades,” sniffled Persephone, “I… I can’t-- I  _ won’t _ go back. I won’t leave y-- here.”

“Back? Persephone, you’re not making sense, how high is your fever?” asked Hades.

Persephone tried to sigh, but it came out more like a wheeze. Then she said, “I’ve been removed from TGOEM.”

_ “ What? _ _”_ said Hades, incredulously.

“Hestia called last night. Word got back to her where I was staying and… apparently it doesn’t matter that we haven’t  _ done _ anything. Looking like we have by sheltering in the same place is enough. They’ve withdrawn my scholarship.”

Hades braced himself against the wall, as he felt the weight of Persephone’s sorrow like it was his own. “Kore, that’s--”

“Artemis is being strong-armed into kicking me out. And mother wants me to come home,” said Persephone, tears starting to run down her face, “The only reason she hasn’t come to collect me already is this virus. If I leave here, if I go to the hospital, she’ll come to take me home with her as soon as I leave, I just know it.”

Persephone was full-on crying now. She hastily rubbed her sleeve across her face and sobbed, “I can’t go back to that life, Aidoneus. I  _ can’t _ . The time since I’ve left the mortal realm has been horrible and wonderful and  _ mine _ , and I can’t go back to the way things were. I  _ won’t _ .”

Persephone had another coughing fit as Hades pressed his back to the wall and slid down to the floor. All of the might of the underworld and he was utterly and completely  _ powerless _ . When Persephone finished coughing, she quietly added, “I can’t go back to my life without you in it, Aidoneus. It would be worse than anything this virus could do to me.”

Hades finally found his voice. “Kore, listen to me. As long as you’ll have me I will never be far from you. There is nothing that Demeter or anyone else can do to me that would take me out of our life if you don’t want me gone. I would burn down the Underworld, Olympus, the mortal realm, everything, to be by your side if you need me there. Because if I had my way I would be here with you for the rest of my life.”

“Aidoneus, I--” started Persephone.

“Now I’m coming over, and we’re going to the hosp--” started Hades, his hand on the door between the two wings of the house.

No sooner had the words left his mouth when a wisteria vine had sprung from the floor and ensnared the door handle and lock.

“Kore  _ please _ ,” pleaded Hades.

“I would rather die than bring you harm, Aidoneus,” said Persephone weakly.

It was no use. He could probably get to her, but she got into this mess by being kidnapped once, he couldn’t do that again. And she could delay him long enough that by the time he got to her--  _ No, I’m not continuing that thought _ , Hades thought to himself,  _ there has to be something I can-- _

The wisteria vine continued to grow around the door, and Hades was struck with an idea.

“Make a rainforest, Persephone,” he said quickly.

“Hades?” said Persephone.

“The humidity might be enough to get you past the worst of the virus.”

“Your house--”

“Do you really think I give a damn about my house right now, Persephone?” Hades almost shouted, before he calmed himself and said, “You’re what’s important to me. You’ll always be what’s important to me.”

There was a pause, and then a rumble, as the roots of gigantic tropical trees shot through the foundation of the house and branches obliterated a large piece of the roof. Even though Persephone was careful to keep the vegetation to her room, Hades had to dodge a few pieces of falling plaster, as the spontaneous generation of an entire ecosystem reverberated throughout the house. When it was finished, Hades picked up the tablet and saw that Persephone was now surrounded by a fine mist and thick vegetation.

“Are you--”

“Better, yes,” said Persephone, and to Hades’ relief it did sound like she was breathing more easily.

“Get some rest, but leave the tablet on. I’ll watch over you as you sleep,” said Hades.

“Alright,” said Persephone, her large round eyes already looking pretty heavy, “and Aidoneus?”

“You’re right there?” said Hades.

“I love you,” said Persephone.

Hades felt his heart swell, as he replied, “I love you too.”


	8. Chapter 8

“And now we take the line brush, dip that into the cinnamon red, and just go ahead and sign your name right here in these happy little bushes,” said Rob Moss, a tree nymph with a literal bush for his hair and a soft voice, “and then we’re finished. Thank you so much for taking the time to paint with me today, and I hope you’ll join me again next time.”

Persephone closed the video on her laptop, which was when she noticed that a high-pitched whine that had been gradually building over the last hour went suddenly silent,  _ I have got to get a new computer, _ thought Persephone as she sucked on her third cough drop of the day (down from 8 by this time yesterday).

“Can I see yours?” asked Hades on the other end of the screen in her… well, “bedroom” wasn’t technically right, since the walls and ceiling were completely destroyed by her emergency rain forest. Her sleeping place had a long orange extension cord running through it that hooked up to a small tv and webcam propped against some branches, through which Hades was peering over his own canvas eagerly waiting to see hers.

“I guess,” said Persephone as she tilted her canvass toward the screen.

“Wow, you’ve really never painted before?” asked Hades with what sounded like genuine incredulity.

“Mother saw painting wasn’t something you could win at, so she made sure my spare time went toward more ‘prestigious’ activities,” said Persephone, “it’s kind of heavy on the ‘happy accidents,’ but I’m as surprised as you are that it’s not terrible.”

“I never said I expected it to be  _ terrible _ ,” said Hades, “just that you’ve done really well for your first painting. Why did you make the flowers pink instead of blue?”

“Because in this environment and that bunching pattern, they could only be hydrangeas, and with the proximity to a stream and a soil of that color, there’s no  _ way _ the soil acidity would-- stop laughing!” said Persephone, smiling in spite of herself.

“You’re absolutely right,” said Hades, still chuckling in spite of himself, “How could Rob Moss make such a careless mistake? I shall have to make an inquiry.”

“Oh hush,” giggled Persephone, which made her cough a little. Then she asked, “Can I see yours?”

“Maybe later,” said Hades, “I want to spend a little time this afternoon touching it up.”

“I thought you’d spend your afternoon getting ready to go back to work tomorrow,” said Persephone.

Hades made a face. “You’re still sick,” he said.

“I’m well past the worst of it,” said Persephone, “And you’ve already taken an extra three days off. Hecate needs a break, and other much sicker people need you to help them through this more than I do.”

“What if--”

“Aidoneus,” said Persephone as warmly as she could, “You could spare someone else what you went through this last week.”

“What  _ you _ went through.”

“What we  _ both _ went through,” finished Persephone.

Hades sighed, leaned back slightly, and ran a hand through his hair. “I’ll call Hecate and let her know I’ll be in tomorrow,” he said.

“Thank you, Hades,” said Persephone.

“You know,” said Hades, “if we’re going to have one conversation we’ve been avoiding, we might as well have two.”

Persephone suddenly became very preoccupied with her paintbrush.

“Look,” said Hades, “You had a high fever, and it was a very intense, emotional moment. I’d understand if you want to--”

“I don’t,” said Persephone firmly, “not a word. Not for a moment.”

Hades smiled and it was so beautiful Persephone wondered if she could spend the rest of her days just making him smile again and again.

“Ok,” said Hades, “in that case--”

“Where do we go from here?” finished Persephone.

Hades rubbed his chin thoughtfully, and the gesture spread bright magenta paint along the side of his face. “I’ve found that with big questions it helps to start small and work your way up,” he said, “so why don’t we talk about your degree first?”

Persephone sucked her teeth. “Honestly? School is the last thing on my mind right now. I’m kind of wondering if I want to go back at all.”

Hades gave her a pointed look.

“Oh don’t do that,” huffed Persephone, “it’s going to be bad enough from my mother when she finds out, I don’t need it from you too.”

“Alright, no judgement,” said Hades putting up his hands defensively, “but do you want to know what I think?”

“Of course.”

“I think that until recently, school’s been your escape route, but now you don’t need it for that anymore, and so you think you don’t need school anymore.”

“Go on,” said Persephone.

“But school can be a lot more than just an escape route to you, if you take the time to figure out what you’re looking for.”

Persephone blew her bangs away from her eyes. “That’s fair,” she said, “but I still don’t know what that is.”

“Which is why I think you should take a semester off,” said Hades, “remote schooling is pretty terrible right now anyway. And since I have a hunch you won’t let me pay for it--”

“A correct hunch,” said Persephone.

“Then you can also take the time to save a little money and research other scholarships and loans you could qualify for.”

Persephone mulled over his words. “That,” she said, “is some eminently reasonable, well crafted, sage advice.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t make a habit of it,” said Hades.

“Alright. But where am I going to live in the meantime?”

“Well,” said Hades, “if I’m going to have some people come and fix up the house anyway-- no, don’t start. I wanted that rain forest more than you did. No more apologizing.”

“Can you at least tell me what the cost--”

“Absolutely not. I was going to remodel anyway.”

“Liar,” said Persephone, but she decided not to press it further.

“Anyway, if I’m getting repairs done, I might as well make a few other changes. Like, separate keys for separate locks in the North and South wing, different circuits and plumbing meters--”

“You want me to be your tenant,” said Persephone incredulously.

“Kore,” said Hades, as he moved aside his easel and faced Persephone as directly as he could, “I want you to be my  _ wife _ .”

Something delicious but a little panicky filled Persephone’s stomach at the word “wife.”

“But that’s moving really, really fast, and you and I both need time before we’re ready for that conversation. So I think it’s best if, for a little while at least, we have our own spaces. At least in theory.”

“But I could never afford a place like this.”

“ _ Kore _ ,” said Hades, “please don’t make me beg to have you close to me.”

Persephone’s heart fluttered. “Ok,” she said, “that sort of takes us to the big question.”

“How we’re taking care of the dogs,” said Hades sagely.

“No you goof!” laughed Persephone, “What are we? Where are we going?”

“Oh that?” said Hades, “That’s easy. We’re dating. And I’m not sure where we’re going but for now at least, we’re going there together.”

Persephone eased herself off the stool she’d been sitting on and back into the bed as she thought about it. “Ok,” she said, “but my mother’s going to have a conniption. She might raise enough hell to complicate things.”

“Demeter’s not the only one who can raise hell,” said Hades, and there was something dangerous (and extremely hot) in his voice, “It is my domain, after all.”

“Could you  _ actually _ raise hell?” asked Persephone.

“Hmmm…” said Hades, the danger completely gone from his voice as the practical CEO side of his brain took over, “it would be a  _ lot _ of paperwork.”

“Well, you can get started on it while I take a nap,” yawned Persephone.

“Of course. One raised hell, literally coming right up.”

“Wait,” said Persephone, “I never got to see your painting.”

“I told you, I--”

“‘Want to touch it up,’ yeah, but let me see it anyway.”

“...I suppose this is the part where I admit that I wasn’t actually painting along with Mr. Moss.”

“You 100% scoundrel!” laughed Persephone, “What were you even-- oooh, I’m so mad! As soon as I’m not stuck in this room I am getting you back for this.”

“I look forward to it, little goddess,” said Hades, “But for now get some rest.”

“You just wait,” said Persephone as she settled down into the blankets and pillows, “As soon as this quarantine is over I’m coming over there, kissing you a lot, then  _ kicking your butt. _ But at chess or swimming or something, because your actual butt is too cute to kick.”

“You’d better hurry up and get better then.”

“Don’t think I  _ won’t.” _ said Persephone as she closed her eyes and started to doze off.

On the other end of the video call, Hades mixed a few more shades of pink to his palette and took advantage of his now still subject to finish blending the shadows and highlights in the portrait he was working on.


	9. Chapter 9

“This is your 7 AM alarm, Hades,” said Euphonia, “Also, Persephone is calling. Shall I put her through?”

Hades rubbed his face and reached for his phone. “Of course, Euphonia,” he said, shaking his head of the last bits of sleep.

“Today’s the day! Today’s the day! Todaaaaay is the daaaaaaay!!” Persephone practically shouted from the other end of the video call, already awake, groomed and dressed.

“What day is that?” asked Hades with a grin.

“My temperature returned to normal at 7:46 AM exactly 10 days ago. Which means in 45 minutes and 32 seconds this quarantine is OFFICIALLY OVER!!” Persephone screamed with excitement.

“Is that so, sweetness?” asked Hades as he got out of bed, “We’ll have to celebrate somehow.”

“Go get ready, I got Euphonia to order you a French toast kit for breakfast and I want to make sure I can kiss you goodbye before you set off for work.”

A little while later, he and Persephone were preparing their last remote breakfast together.

“Don’t worry about dinner tonight, I’ve already decided we’re ordering in, my treat,” Persephone prattled happily over her plate, “What do you think about that Italian place with the random pierogies on the appetizer menu? Or maybe the Chinese place with those really good soup dumplings? Well, we can talk about it later, but I can’t wait to spend the day with your dogs! We’re going to go on walks and--”

“Kore,” said Hades.

“How did it take us so long to figure out we can both make French toast?” said Persephone, covering her full mouth of French toast, “It plays to your strength in stovetop cooking and mine in sweets and--”

“ _ Kore _ ,” said Hades.

“Right, sorry, I’m going to stop talking with my mouth full now. Hey, did my new swimsuit arrive at your door? I can’t wait to take a dip in the pool--”

“It’s 7:43,” said Hades.

Persephone dropped her fork with a clatter, “I was going to freshen up first! Oh no, I’m going to smell like cooking oil and--”

“Meet you at the door in 3 minutes?” asked Hades.

“3 minutes!” said Persephone, who dropped the phone and ran off for the quickest mouthwash and change of her life.

3 minutes later, Hades was standing in front of the door between the two wings of the house. His heart was pounding as he put one hand on the wooden frame and took a breath. On the other side, he could hear Persephone doing the same thing.

“Are you ready?” he asked through the door.

“Y-yes,” said a shaky voice on the other side.

“Ok,” said Hades, moving his hand to the handle, “on three. One...”

“Two...” said Persephone.

“Three,” said both of them together, as Hades opened the door toward him.

For a moment all Hades could do was drink her in. Standing in front of him, a tiara of brilliant blue hydrangeas crowning her head.

“You’re--” started Persephone.

“Here,” finished Hades.

And then, before either of them were conscious of it, all remnants of the distance they’d had between them these past three weeks disappeared into a kiss.

Then another kiss.

Then another.

Then another.

Then Hades found himself utterly incapable of counting kisses or anything else as he pressed Persephone against him and began trailing kisses down her neck.

“Late… fr’work,” Persephone managed to get out between gasps.

“Took the day off,” growled Hades. He got the sense Persephone was about to protest him tricking her but then he bit down gently on her earlobe and whatever Persephone was about to say collapsed into one directive: “Couch.”

Hades scooped her up bridal style to carry her over to the couch in his living room.“So,” he said, “what are we comfortable with right now?”

“Um,” said Persephone, as she put her arms around his neck, “How about making out? It’s just my lungs aren’t back to normal yet and I don’t know if I’m ready--”

“That,” said Hades, sitting down on the couch with Persephone on his lap and leaning back, “sounds perfect to me, Kore.”

Persephone smiled. “Good. Because I don’t want to leave this room until you have at  _ least _ three hickies.”

“Oh good, we can match,” said Hades, as he leaned in to kiss her. And after that point, anything clever either of them had prepared to say had transmuted itself into a series of gasps, moans, and swears.

And between the sound of her breath catching as Hades ran his hands down her spine, the taste of her skin, the smell of her hair, and the look of her - flushed and disheveled and  _ his _ \- Hades wondered if he’d managed to fulfill Persephone’s wish and raise hell after all. Because where they were now -- Underworld or no, with her here in his arms -- couldn’t be anywhere but paradise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who's got two thumbs and is terrible at writing smut but somehow managed to write a make out scene where Persphone's sexual trauma is accommodated with explicit verbal consent and her own set pace but it doesn't weigh the chapter down into Very Special Episode (tm) territory, and that overall didn't suck? (Me, I hope?) This was by far the most difficult chapter to write and I could probably redraft and revise it another 100 times, but I'm satisfied with how it turned out.
> 
> Next and final chapter will be an epilogue. Thank you all for tagging along on this harebrained fic idea I needed to get out of my system, and for leaving your kudos and very kind comments.


	10. Epilogue

6 months later, Hades and Persephone were lying next to each other in bed, catching their breath. And when Persephone was capable of cogent thought again, one such cogent thought struck her.

“You know, Aidoneus,” said Persephone, as she turned toward her lover, “I just noticed the repairs are done on the house, but the locks haven’t been changed.”

“Oh, yeah,” said Hades, “Guess it slipped my mind.”

Persephone got up on one elbow. “Were you ever actually planning to split up the house between us?”

“Honestly?” said Hades, turning his head to face her, “I  _ was _ planning on it. And then we opened that door and suddenly it didn’t seem like much of a good idea anymore. Do-- ah, do you want to--”

Persephone chuckled, “No,” she said, as she slid next to Hades under the covers, “No, I like this arrangement just fine.”

“I’m glad you feel that way,” said Hades, “but I don’t.”

“Oh?” asked Persephone.

“No,” said Hades, who took his arm out from under Persephone’s head and sat up on the side of the bed, “No, I don’t. Because we’re missing something.”

“What are we missing?” asked Persephone a little worriedly, as Hades opened the drawer of his bedside table and rummaged through it until he found what he was looking for.

“Vows,” said Hades, as he turned, and showed Persephone the most beautiful ring she’d ever seen.

“ _ Yes _ ,” said Persephone.

Hades chuckled, “I haven’t even asked--”

“Yes! Yes, Hades, I will! Yes!” said Persephone as she threw her arms around his neck.

Hades hugged her back, and that was when Persephone realized his hands had been shaking. She pulled back, put her hands to either side of his face and said, “You didn’t think I was going to say  _ no _ , did you?”

“Well,” said Hades, as he took her left hand and slid the ring onto it, “now that the virus is gone and the  _ Muses _ are on tour again, I thought you and Calliope might--”

“I take it back,” said Persephone, “go change the locks and keep the ring, let’s go back to me kicking your butt at chess over a webcam while we sigh at each other.”

Hades laughed and kissed the ring on Persephone’s hand. “Don’t threaten me with a good time,” he said.

“That was a  _ good _ time to you?” asked Persephone incredulously.

“It brought us together, didn’t it?” said Hades, now holding both of Persephone’s hands in his own.

“By keeping us apart,” said Persephone.

“Yes, our lives are rich with contradiction,” said Hades, as he started to trail kisses from the heel of her palm up her arm, “God of death, goddess of spring, apart and together, old and young--”

“One’s chatty, the other’s impatient,” said Persephone, as she put her hand behind Hades’ neck to guide his head up her arm to her neck.

“What I mean is,” said Hades, pulling back for a moment to look Persephone in the eye, their faces inches apart, “it got us here. And I don’t want to be anywhere else."

And Persephone was going to say something just as heartfelt, about how she could never regret anything that made this moment possible. But then Hades started doing that  _ thing _ with his hands, and Persephone’s capacity for cogent thought was gone again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's the end! Thank you everyone for coming along for the journey on this fic, and for those who've left kudos, comments, and generally interacted here. Be sure to leave a comment if you've enjoyed your time here, it really does make my day to know other people have enjoyed reading this as much as I've enjoyed writing it. Remember to stay safe, follow WHO recommendations, and not imply that Zeus is a playboy ding dong in nationally syndicated press conferences. Take care!
> 
> P.S. As of this posting, I have one other Lore Olympus fic for folks interested in reading more LO fluff. https://archiveofourown.org/works/20728394


End file.
